the village idiot

This is why good science is so important. It is the only tool we have to tell us objectively what is occurring in the World, without personal bias. The utterly overwhelming scientific consensus, from people who actually know what they are talking about, is that we are in very deep doo doo. The circulating idea that all climate scientists are collaborating in some sort of mass conspiracy is just crazy talk. We would be tragically foolish to reject the findings from the people using the best methods we have to find things out. Is the scientific consensus ever wrong? Yes, but extremely rarely, and even less so as time goes on. The stakes are way way way too high to not back the favourite on this one. It would be akin to betting your descendents lives on the 'other horse' in a one horse race.

Refreshing to see the Alpha Male AGM passing off without incident again.

Yes, and yes. We have prioritised Ash heavy areas for felling but within the structure of our 10 year management plan. We don't yet know if all the unhealthy trees will definitely die, so to take them all out would be premature (not to mention totally impractical as there are only two of us.) The Wood is primarily managed for biodiversity, so standing and fallen deadwood is good. We do have to maintain a balance though between maximising ecology and sustaining financial viability. No restrictions on moving Ash timber out of the Wood. As you quite rightly point out, this would be futile.

? Is that as in 'create ures'? Yes, that wouldn't fit my profile.

The dieback or the Woodland?

Mainland Europe not good. Not sure about the rest of the World. There are a few different varieties of Ash. Others will know a lot more about it than me.

Don't worry! The Woodland will be fine. Just no Ash.

Yes, there is bound to be some resilience at least, if not resistance. Last I heard it was estimated to be somewhere between 10% and 0.1% nationwide. Time will tell.

Not to my knowledge. It is pretty devastating though. I manage a 200 acre ancient Woodland which is predominantly Ash. I haven't seen a healthy Ash tree in the past 2 years.

Yup, the problem is their very high number of capitas. We are long past the point where people can choose to act independently. We need to be forced.

I think you'd be surprised. The science on human induced global warming is now unequivocal, and even the most conservative projections are dire. We know what we are dealing with.

Yes, China and India are by far the biggest problem at present. Do we have the right to stop them, arguably no. Do we need to stop them, yes. I heard someone comment that the fact that China is effectively a dictatorship could be beneficial. If the Chinese leader's ego could be prodded into seeing himself as the key player in saving the planet, he has the power to very quickly change the course of his nation. This would make a huge difference. There is some hope. If we can hold the temperature rise to 2 degrees the results will only be catastrophic.

So... Absolute best case scenario from here on out is a 2 degree increase in global temperature. The fallout from this 'best we can hope for' future has been officially designated as CATASTROPHIC. If we carry on pretty much as we are, we are looking at a 4, 5 or even greater degree rise. Insert any word you like to describe what this would be like, as long as it is far worse than catastrophic. We are on course for damaging our planet, and the creatures on it, beyond all recognition. I'm not sure we have quite grasped the magnitude of this challenge we face. It really is THE issue, but we give it relatively little thought. Is it too big a thing to properly conceptualise? Is it too far removed from the day to day concerns that we fret over? Are we going to accept being told to stop doing a lot of the things we feel we have the right to do? Is this existential crisis best tackled in closely affiliated groups of nations or as individual countries looking out for their own concerns? All thoughts gratefully received.

Well done that man!?

Could be climate change, could be something else. I was surprised they appeared so far North. Keep your eye out for Toucans.

Any idea why the numbers seem to be increasing Mick?

Fantastic!

I'll be needing some pics of it with some big butts please I can only find the one at the moment.

They do have a plug, they just don't like you using it! The winch connects to the tractor battery.

Here's my log arch. Needs 50 horses to pull it but it will shift anything that fits through the uprights.

High forest is certainly a valuable habitat in itself. We leave some select areas as non-intervention in our Wood. It is worth pointing out though that something like 50% of Woodland in the UK is unmanaged. Very few have woodland TPO's. They are especially good for bats, some birds and lichens and fungi but they are relatively barren. The majority of the wildlife that would inhabit them are adapted to the seasonal felling cycles that took place in most Woodland up until the second world war. They struggle to cling on in dark unmanaged Woods.

You'll do well to find anyone selling wood in the way you want to. You could try starting at £100/cube and keep dropping until the customer's face unwrinkles.

Ah, you're thinking of selling in 4ft lengths?

Where are you? Are you planning on selling to the end user? Are you planning to season the wood.

Measure the height and the depth of your stack in mtrs, times them together and then times that figure by the length of the stack in mtrs. This will give you the volume of the STACK in cubic mtrs. How much split wood you get out of the stack will depend on the diameter and straightness of the lengths. There are probably people on here that can give you some rules of thumb.